I was planning on writing her story sooner but ended up back in the hospital with a kidney infection a couple days after coming home, so now details might not be as precise but I'll do my best.
Tuesday, Aug 18th I had my weekly checkup, and I had my doctor strip my membranes. I was dilated to a 3 but still 50% effaced. As we sat in the office we heard Dr. Gatlin come grab my chart outside the door and say, "Oh Jannica Jannica Jannica... last time I got the scowl. Should I even go in?" (Well if you don't know me, my straight face may come off as pissed off. It's just my face...if I were to actually scowl then I would scare you off). I let him know I overheard him when he came in. Luckily he stripped my membranes and didn't send me home with nothing, haha.
My contractions became more painful, however I felt like I was in labor all week. Nothing consistent enough though. The next day, Wednesday Aug 19th, Lane, Kobe and I went on a walk which got my contractions a little closer together. After showers, eating lunch and getting Kobe down for a nap I decided I wanted to try going in again once Kobe got up from his nap and we got him situated with Nana. I was hoping I wasn't setting myself up for disappointment again. My contractions were 3-7 minutes apart but I felt smaller ones in between the stronger ones. We got all set up at the hospital around 5pm. The nurse checked my cervix after monitoring my contractions for a while and I was only at a 3.5. I asked if they could just give me Pitocin because I really didn't want to get sent home again. She said they weren't going to induce me, but I could try walking the halls for an hour to try to naturally dilate. So Lane and I walked laps for an hour. I wasn't timing contractions completely but they were about 5-7min apart. I went back in, fully expecting her to check me and say there was no change. I was getting depressed and frustrated. A new nurse, Rita, came in to take over and she checked my cervix right away. She said I was definitely at a 4. She explained that the doctors and nurses measure slightly different because of their finger sizes, basically...but she said she wouldn't call me a 3.5 at all. She was sure Dr. Gatlin would agree with her. She was extremely nice and encouraging, and she could tell I was ready. She told us she'd go call Dr. Gatlin and convince him to come in and break my water. I felt a sense of relief, but still didn't want to get my hopes up. A couple minutes later she came back in, smiling, and said, "Okay, Dr. Gatlin said he'd drive in and break your water! That didn't take any convincing." ~Whew!~ I wasn't even nervous at this point, just so relieved that I would be staying and we'd be having a baby (hopefully) that night.
She started to get stuff set up and asked if I wanted to try sitting in a rocking chair or another position before getting hooked up to an IV. I chose the rocking chair because my contractions were tolerable. Within the couple of minutes she was out of the room grabbing me a rocking chair my contractions skyrocketed. She came back in and I told her I was ready for pain meds. I remembered with Kobe I had to go through the IV pain meds before getting my epidural and I wanted this to be as painless as possible so I wanted to get that going. She quickly got me hooked up, and Dr. Gatlin was there a little after 8pm. I thought breaking my water would be a bigger process but it took all but a few minutes. He said I could get my epidural whenever, and I was still trying to be a little tough because not all my contractions made me want to die. Then they really took off and I said I was definitely ready! I got my epidural by 9pm and then I was happy. I was expecting it to take a while to go from the 6cm I was at that point to a 9 but I was a happy lady and just in for the ride at that point.
Kim and Laurel joined my labor party and we were just waiting for things to happen. I still felt my contractions but they weren't really painful. I went to an 8 pretty quickly. Around 11pm Rita came and checked me again... she looked at me and said, "Try pushing." I pushed once and she said, "Okay stop. You're ready. You're going to be having this baby tonight-- you won't be pushing long." I pushed with Kobe for an hour so I figured maybe that meant like a half hour at least. I should mention that all the while my mom was convinced I'd be having the baby on August 20th and I was determined to prove her wrong because I was working at it for a long time. I wanted her that night. So I told my doctor and nurses that I had until 11:59pm to get her out. Rita got Dr. Gatlin in the room and they said, "Okay let's get this baby out tonight."
This is my wonderful nurse, Rita. She's an angel.
11:29pm I started pushing. I was finally nervous-- not to have a second child, but to start nursing of all things! (Ugh, I was dreading that.) I pushed 6 times... through 2 contractions. Dr. Gatlin said, "Okay, next one and she's out." I started crying because I was so excited to hold that long-awaited little girl. I couldn't believe she was actually here. I pushed one more time through that last contraction and watched that tiny, little beautiful and slimy thing come out screaming. Girl had some lungs in her, that's for sure. It was so different than with Kobe, who didn't make a peep hardly. Lane cut her chord and it felt like minutes before they finally handed her to me (it was only seconds but my brain was screaming, "give me my freakin' baby!"). When she was placed on me I instantly felt a bond that I can't even explain. I was so relieved because I was nervous that I wouldn't get anything like that for a while with her. I had forgotten how to hold a newborn, especially a slippery one. Oh she was so beautiful. Kobe's first feature I noticed besides his wide eyes were his huge hands. Miss Ella I noticed those perfectly puffy lips. What a miracle it is how those little humans came into this world and I was blessed to be their deliverer. I can't find the words to explain the happiness and love I have for them.
Ella Leona Larson
8.19.15 @ 11:37pm
7lb 8oz. 20.5" long
Every commercial on TV while I was laboring involved some kind of burger and that's all I wanted. I was starving. Rita went and got me a rice bowl and it tasted better than anything!
Daddy and his princess
Lane stood and watched over her while she was heating up and waiting for the nurse. Such a sweet moment.
Finally all clean and warm.
Perfection.
Beautiful Ella x2
Kobe meets baby Ella
These pictures need no explanation because my friend Christine Potter (ChristinePotterPhotography) did such an amazing job capturing every special moment, but I want to preface that Kobe meeting his little sister was a moment I feared. I was nervous that he would resent me. I was nervous that he wouldn't like her right at first. I was nervous that he'd act out. I was nervous that if any of that were to have happened that I would resent one of my children. Everything went perfectly though and Kobe loves his little sister; which makes me love both of them even more (doesn't seem possible).
I stayed one more night with just me and Miss Ella before returning home and starting in on a new kind of chaos. Halfway through the night I was wishing I had just gone home but it was probably good that she got more attention from nurses too. So I went home Friday afternoon.
Just when I thought that labor and delivery were too easy-- almost embarrassed to tell my story because it was so quick and fairly painless-- Saturday night I started getting some excruciating pain in my uterus/abdomen. I can only describe it as a Charley horse that spread across my front and straight into my back. I couldn't relax. After a long night of crying and almost screaming, talking with the on-call OB and L&D nurse, Nana took Kobe to church and Lane took me back into the ER to get it checked. Because of the place the pain stemmed from, the nurses were concerned that it might be my appendix so I had a CT scan. After ruling that out, it was determined that it was a UTI/Kidney infection and they decided to admit me back into L&D. I was so frustrated, mostly because I had been through this before when Kobe was born: a week after he was born was when my back first gave out and I had to go into the ER. It's so stressful with a newborn. Plus, I was feeling deprived of time with Kobe and feeling guilty for not being there for him. We were glad that we went in though because it could have gotten way worse. They told me I would be staying the night, and to top it off, because Ella wasn't a patient anymore, I had to have someone there with me to take care of her. Not good for postpartum recovery. Laurel, another angel in my life, willingly came to stay the night with me so that Lane could be with Kobe, even though she had worked 100+ hours during the week and had to leave at 5:30 am. It made for a long night for her too with a newborn and nurses coming in at all hours. Bless her heart! There was even going to be an hour gap between her leaving and Lane coming in so she had to take Ella to Lane (because I couldn't be alone with my newborn infant). I had a fever at 3 am and they told me later in the morning that I wouldn't be able to be released until I was 24 hours fever-free. How frustrating! So that meant I had to stay another night...which meant I had to figure out another "babysitter" for me and the baby. Ugh. Laurel, again being my lifesaver on the same busy schedule, offered to stay the night again. I have been so blessed to have her in my life. She has helped me in so many ways that would cause most people discomfort and frustration. Luckily I was able to go home that next morning. There's no better place to recover than at home sometimes (although I am grateful I had those pain meds and fluids for a couple days). I am now at home with my beautiful family and although at moments I feel exhausted and stressed, I couldn't ask for a better place to be.
Ella's first two weeks have been pretty successful. Kobe still loves "bay-lella" and has only lashed out a few times at Mommy and Daddy. That is part being a two-year-old, part wanting the attention. He's still just the sweetest boy ever. He loves to pray for everything-- that's his new thing: fruit snacks, any food put in front of him, his bubble bath, family, his race cars and trucks... So cute! I sure love my little family!
First pedicure!
